Post-Blackgaze Band Mother Delivers an Intensely Crafted Musical Journey. From the quiet shores of Ostend, Belgium, emerges a band whose sound is as relentless and vast as the North Sea itself. Their music, much like their coastal hometown, is a study in contrasts – tranquil melodies giving way to towering walls of sound, gentle introspection swept away by waves of raw power.
In 2020, Mother released their debut album, I, a single composition with immersive storytelling. The album was a journey, one that flowed seamlessly from beginning to end, inviting the listener to lose themselves in the narrative. Now, Mother returns with II, the highly anticipated sequel that promises to pull audiences even deeper into their world.
II is not merely a follow-up; it is the continuation of a grand, overarching story that began with I. Just like its predecessor, II was written as one continuous piece, meant to be experienced in a single sitting. “Growing up, we listened to a lot of concept albums,” Tuur Soete explains, reflecting on the band’s influences. “The Ocean Collective, Uneven Structure, Tesseract – these bands created albums that were more than just collections of songs. They were cohesive, immersive experiences. For Mother, writing in this way came naturally. I tend to compose long passages of music that evolve within a broader musical arc, so the idea of a single composition album was a perfect fit for us.”
Driven by narrative the band explores different aspects of storytelling based on a central theme of every album of theirs. The figure of the mother – both nurturing and destructive – serves as the linchpin of their story. “Lyrically, I’ve never wanted to strictly define who or what the mother is,” Tuur shares. “While I draw from personal experiences, I want listeners to interpret the figure in their own way. For some, she might be a familial connection; for others, she might be a distant, protective presence. But this isn’t a tale of happiness – it’s about the love and hate that exist between the protagonist and the mother figure, about the tension between self-centrism and altruism, which we all encounter at different points in our lives.”
II builds on the foundation laid by I, but it also pushes the story into darker, more intense territory. “It reflects the emotional turbulence of real life – the conflicts, the power struggles, and the inevitable push and pull of love and resentment”. Musically, II is a relentless force. From the opening moments, the listener is thrust into a furious wall of sound that refuses to relent. The album’s structure, with its long, evolving passages, challenges traditional song forms, offering instead a continuous, immersive experience. “It’s an interesting exercise,” Tuur notes, “to maintain tension over a long period while ensuring the music remains compelling. We strive to find the balance between what we want to express musically and lyrically, letting certain passages play out longer than others might, but always keeping the story moving forward.”
| With II, Mother have created an album that is not just heard but felt – a visceral, all-encompassing experience that demands the listener’s full attention. ‘II’ is coming out on October 25 via Consouling Sounds. Pre-order the LP from now on. Black LP(limited to 200) here. Ash Grey (limited to 300) here. CD (limited to 300) here. |